Yes we should panic. Or at least pay a lot more attention to the problem than we currently are. Everything that the richest 1/5 of the worlds countries has gotten used to is made possible by oil: the food, the cars, the gadgets etc. The population explosion correlates with the oil explosion, as modern food production requires massive amounts of oil.

While it is easy to dismiss this as alarmist and claim that the marketplace will magically solve the problem on its own by some ingenuity is far fetched. the ultimate source of all energy, including fossil fuels, is the sun. Currently humans use nearly half of the lands energy potential for crops etc. obviously running our cars on corn is infeasible, and sickening considering the poverty in the world. nuclear power is just as unsustainable as oil and even more destructive.

I believe that the inevitable solution is decreased consumption and wasteful lifestyles. Enjoy it while you can! we still probably have decades before it's too bad.